Word Origin & History

shop c.1300, perhaps from O.E. scoppa "booth or shed for trade or work" (rare), related to scypen "cowshed," from P.Gmc. *skoppan "small additional structure" (cf. O.H.G. scopf "building without walls, porch," Ger. dial. Scopf "porch, cart-shed, barn," Ger. Schuppen "a shed"), from base *skupp-. But it's likely that the M.E. word was acquired from O.Fr. eschoppe "booth, stall," which is a Gmc. loan-word from the same root. Meaning "schoolroom equipped for teaching vocational arts" is from 1914, Amer.Eng. Sense of "matters pertaining to one's trade" is from 1814 (as in to talk shop, 1860). Shopping ...cart is recorded from 1956; shopping list first attested 1913; transf. and fig. use is from 1959.